All You Need To Know About Learners’ Engagement In Corporate Training
You, as a corporate trainer, need to know how to increase employee’s engagement and how to keep their attention.
Before we continue with the tips for gaining and retaining learners' engagement, let's give a brief definition of the concept of learner engagement.
Learner engagement measures learners’ participation in the training. Engaged learners participate actively in the training, do it willingly, do not regret that they need to devote time and effort to it. In short, they have an internal motivation to participate in the training.
Engaged learners successfully complete their assignments, they engage in discussions and produce great results.
Adult Learners And Learner Engagement
Many people believe that training is engaging if it is fun. Of course, everyone likes to have fun, and humor can improve the retention of new knowledge, but that does not mean this is enough to engage learners.
Adult learners not only have many personal and professional commitments but also have different experiences and preferences. They are individuals with formed interests and personality traits, and it is not easy to gain and retain their attention. They are often not focused on learning, but on another aspect of their personal or professional life, they might have a negative past experience, they might suffer from boredom or feel isolated. However, it is proven that adult learners are motivated if:
- They learn independently while exploring and researching.
- Learning modules and exercises are short and relevant.
- They receive regular feedback and encouragement.
Why Is It Important For Your Corporate Training To Be Engaging?
If your training is engaging:
- More people will involve in it, and they will apply what they have learned in their real-life duties.
- Learners will retain more information.
- Learners will improve their performance, and they will become better professionals.
- Learner’s engagement is beneficial for business.
How To Engage Learners?
In order to make your training more engaging for the employees in your organization, you can:
- Analyze your learners’ needs and skills and identify gaps.
- Set clear learning goals.
- Explain why they need to participate in the training, and how it will help them in their daily duties.
- Reward their participation in the training.
- Personalize your trainings, and get creative with the content.
- Use online courses, gamification, blended learning, mobile learning, and social learning to make the process as beneficial as possible.
- Use forums and social media to create communication channels so learners can express and share their thoughts and opinions.
- Use a Learning Management System to easily distribute your training to all employees.
- Make your training active so it does not bore learners.
- Add mind-stimulating questions to challenge learners.
- Allow learners to make mistakes, and fail but provide them with opportunities to retake the course.
- Create a learning experience, not just a learning course.
- Add stories to increase learners’ engagement.
Content And Design Tips To Keep Your Learners Engaged
In order to engage your learners, you need to use clear and consistent text. Below are some best practices for training content development:
- Keep your tone conversational.
- Use the active voice.
- Chunk content into smaller pieces and keep them relevant.
- Include introduction and summary sections.
- Add instructions where necessary.
- Avoid using jargon.
- Maintain consistent formatting.
- Check spelling and grammar.
And here is a list of best practices for visual design:
- Limit the amount of text on each page. Use legible font, paragraphs, bullet lists, numbered lists, charts.
- Choose a color palette and use it consistently throughout the course.
- Use high-quality images, graphics, video, and audio that support the content.
- Use animation only when needed.
- Make your course interactive.
- Leave white space between elements.
- Use contrast to highlight important design elements.
- Use repletion to unify your design.
- Use alignment to connect different design elements.
- Use proximity to show the relationship between different design elements.
- Don’t use visual elements that can become quickly outdated.
- Provide playback controls for video and audio.
Conclusion
If you think that your corporate trainings are not engaging, do not panic. Take time to understand what motivates and engages learners, implement the above-mentioned best practices, and you will be on the right path.